Random thoughts from a grace saved sinner, small church pastor, and home-school dad.

For it is by grace you have been saved...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Grow Up, Already!

OK, so here’s the deal.In high school, I was a band and drama geek. This was way before recent movies and TV shows
made this a popular thing. But believe
it or not, in our high school, it actually was fairly “in.”

We went through a stage where our marching band and jazz
band won competitions right and left, whereas our football team…well…didn’t. (In an 8 year stretch the team was a combined 17-63). In fact, we had several football players
wanting to be in the marching band. They
would actually march with their pads on during half time shows. So, being a band “geek” wasn’t the term.We called it being a “band jock.”

The point is that we had success. As I said, our bands usually took a trophy at
every competition we entered. I was no
slouch myself,earning top ratings at
state contest several years doing solos, etc.

Yeah, that’s me on the saxophone. Don’t you love the hair and glasses? Anyway, I enjoyed those things.Just as I enjoyed the plays we did in school.
I had major parts in most every
production we did during my high school years.

Wow, look at those guns I’m showing off! Who did I think I
was?Once again, I’ll say, “Anyway….”There’s a point here, somewhere.I enjoyed high school, for the most
part.I met my sweetheart (not pictured here, BTW) in those days,
and that worked out pretty well! But,
you know, I don’t really think about those days all that much.

It seems some folks think about stuff like this all the
time. It’s like they never left. Things like Facebook have highlighted just how
much some folks have never left high school. They still act, think, talk like they did
then.They still fixate on the same
things.It’s like their identity is
trapped 30 years in the past.

I mean, sure, I’d love to go back to the days when I was
that skinny. Heck, I’d even take that
haircut again if I could lose that much weight! But seriously, that’s all in the past.And I like it there. I’m not dependent on the band and drama geek,
I mean jock, for my sense of identity. Today
I’m a husband, father, pastor, etc.There
has been years and years (and years) of growth and maturity since then. OK, so maturity might be stretching it a bit,
but you get the point.

And here is that point.We can’t live in the past, good or bad. It seems that so many people are trapped by
their past. Either they can’t get beyond
those “glory days” of high school or college, still trying to get by in life on
past success; or they can’t get beyond the hurts and struggles of the past,
allowing those things to continue to bring them down.

Here’s some great good news. In Christ, all things are new. In Christ, the old is gone and we are new
creations. And as such, we ought to be
living as new creations. We ought to be
growing and maturing into His likeness. The
past is gone, and while it certainly has some influence on who we are, it doesn’t
define us. Our identity should be in
Christ, in who He is making us now.

Sadly, even in the church, too many folks haven’t made it
out of high school. Not only do many
people, especially in small towns, fixate on high school sports, etc.; but our
attitudes are still the same as high school. Bickering and gossiping and looking for status
in all the wrong places. On the other
end, some folks can’t seem to get past things that happened years ago, old
hurts, old offenses. Grow up, already!

Or as Scripture puts it, our goal should be that “we all
attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to
mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so
that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried
about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful
schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way
into him who is the head, into Christ.” (Ephesians
4:13-15, ESV)

We ought to be growing in our faith to the point that when
we look back 10, 20, 30 years, our Christian faith and practice then seems as embarrassing
to us now as those old pictures from high school do. We should look back and see so much growth, so
many changes, and our confidence should be in who we are now, who Christ is
making us to be through the power of His Spirit.

So, looking back is good…from time to time. Just stop living there.Let’s all grow up.